Bronchitis
by twounderscorethreefour
Summary: Matt has a cough.


I have a plethora of interests. Anime isn't a big one, but I'm such a sucker for these two, I can hardly resist.

-

Mello could recall only three times in his life where he had fallen ill. Once was a minor flu bug during his Whammy days, another was a rather painful case of tonsillitis, and two years prior he'd been struck with an annoying sort of ear infection that made it impossible for to stand up without falling over.

Obviously, these three experiences made his own sympathy for sick people run low. In fact, most of the time Mello had trouble picking up on any sort of sign that might indicate somebody was showing symptoms for that winter's strain of influenza – since he was very scarcely affected. (Hm. Maybe the antioxidants in dark chocolate really did strengthen his immune system like the box said.)

One thing he didn't fail to notice, however, was the sticky cough Matt had been producing for the past two days. Mello's concern was low; Matt was still able to play marathons of PS2 games, and it wasn't like he was over-exerting himself anyway, buying Mello his daily supply of chocolate. Oh no, Mello had to do that all on his own since Matt had been "catching up" on last year's edition of Final Fantasy before the new one came out.

God damn, that kid was excited about the game. Whenever a new Final Fantasy or high-end first person shooter made its way into their local GameStop, Matt was always first to be lined up at the register to purchase it. Sometimes it made Mello wonder how he found time to do other things.. well, unless you consider that most of Matt's life _was_ centered around video games.

Speaking of which, wasn't the new one supposed to come out today? Mello carelessly glanced at the calendar. Today's date was circled in green, indicating it was the day for Matt to make a visit to GameStop. The store had only opened an hour ago, by now the redhead would usually be back home and almost halfway through his new game. So why was he still home…?

The familiar staccato cough rung from the living room, both interrupting and answering Mello's question.

The blonde glanced over his armchair nonchalantly, his gaze falling upon his roommate who was placing his phone and wallet in his pocket. Decked in his usual attire, Matt was sporting a horizontally striped black and white long sleeved shirt. Black gloves left his long, thin fingers exposed and black boots were laced up over dark rinse denim jeans. What was not so typical, however, was the unusually pallid tone of his skin and flushed color in his cheeks.

Mello wasn't one to pay it any mind – he simply bit off a piece of frozen dark chocolate and continued reading his book.

"Hey, Mels," pause. Cough, cough. "I'ma run to GameStop – I'll be back in like half an hour, okay?"

"Mmm," The blonde mumbled, but it wasn't until another string of coughs racked Matt's form that he turned around and raised a flaxen eyebrow at the gamer. "Matt. No. _Hell_ no."

"What?" Matt questioned, his expression one of genuine confusion.

"It's fucking _minus ten degrees_ outside, and you're wearing _that?_" One could easily tell from Mello's tone that he considered his friend (or lover, or boyfriend, or however you choose to imagine them) a complete moron – regardless, the smirk on Matt's face knew it was laced (at least lightly) with concern.

"I guess," Matt shrugged. "Why not?"

"Fuck, Matt. You'll freeze." Mello reasoned.

"Aw! You care about me!" Matt teased, his boasting cut short by another coughing fit.

Mello sighed, gritting his teeth at the decision he was about to make. Out of both habit and addiction, he bit off another sharp piece of chocolate.

"No. I just," The leather-clad party sighed, got up, and pushed the smoker back to the bedroom. "Just go to bed and let me get the game for you."

"Please, Mels; you wouldn't be caught dead at GameStop. Do you even know where it is?" Matt asked in a cocky fashion.

"Yeah," Mello lied. "Duh. Besides, you won't give up cigarettes if I don't ditch the chocolate and God knows _that_ isn't gonna happen. I'm just tired of your constant hacking and it isn't going to stop if you don't rest. So just _do it_."

Matt grinned; the expression on his roommate's face was absolutely priceless. He knew that Mello couldn't forever maintain such a nonchalant demeanor, and his heart melted whenever the blonde let his guard down. He wrapped his long, skinny arms around Mello's slender frame and felt Mello slightly – just slightly – return the hug.

"Thanks, Mels."

"Don't mention it. _Ever_."

-

WOW. I suck. I suck HARD. Super hard.

THE LAST LINE WAS SOOOOO CORNY OMG.

HOW OOC WAS THAT? Dude, shit, I need like writing lessons or something. I'm serious.

Posting this is even sort of… out there for me. Lol sorry if it sucked as much as I think it does, or if that's just my inferiority complex speaking.

Eh.

:D


End file.
